Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

Hello,

My group has been assigned to do a general market survey on a foreign country (we picked France).

Can anyone give us some pointers on what topics/statistics to include, where to find information, anything at all? Also any examples of a real general market survey would be great.

A few notes on the project:

1. We are to use secondary data with a minimum of three independent sources (must be fairly recent, <5 years)

2. We are NOT researching the market for a particular product; the survey is supposed to be general and non-specific and we are not expected to draw a conclusion if the market is good or bad (since there is no product).

3. The survey will be presented in a ~10 page report and accompanied by a group PowerPoint presentation.

Group 4 thanks you very much for any help you can provide!!

EDIT: I have attached our current topic list for the report. It needs work!!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Demographics
Society and culture
Geography and Climate
Infrastructure
• Electricity
• Water supply
• Telephone services
• Seaports
• Airports
• Highways
• Railroads
• Natural resources
Monetary & Fiscal policies
Economic indicators
Business
• Imports
• Exports
• Major productions by industry
• Labor distribution by industry
• Major media outlets
• Economic Trends
• Foreign barriers (tariff or nontariff) and/or foreign incentives
Setting up a business
• Corporation
• Sole proprietorship
• Owning property
Cost of business
• Labor cost
• Visa & work permit
• Tax rates & Double Tax agreements
• Patents and trademarks
• Licensing
• Standard shipping cost
• Transportation & gas cost
• Communication cost
• Cost of living
Zoning
• Residential
• Commercial
• Industrial
Major media outlets